Mobile communication systems have evolved over the past ten years or so from the GSM System (Global System for Mobiles) to the 3G system and now include packet data communications as well as circuit switched communications. The third generation partnership project (3GPP) has now begun to develop a mobile communication system referred to as Long Term Evolution (LTE) in which a core network part has been evolved to form a more simplified architecture based on a merging of components of earlier mobile radio network architectures and a radio access interface which is based on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) on the downlink and Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) on the uplink.
Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) has been developed by the third generation partnership project (3GPP) to provide an arrangement in which data can be transmitted from one or more cells of a mobile radio network to mobile communications devices which have subscribed to that service. For example a television programme or multi media event can be transmitted to a plurality of mobile communications devices by contemporaneously transmitting broadcast data representing the programme or multi media event to the mobile communications devices from some or all of the base stations which form part of the network. An evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (eMBMS) is an arrangement which is provided within the standardisation of the LTE standards within 3GPP. In particular, the eMBMS standard utilises physical layer characteristics of the LTE standard which uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) on the down link to transmit the eMBMS data to mobile communication devices. A feature of OFDM is that a Fourier Transform can be used to transform the time domain received OFDM symbol into the frequency domain. This is because the signal is formed in the frequency domain and transformed using an inverse FFT into the time domain for transmission. At the receiver the time domain signal, which may have reached the receiver from multiple paths and indeed multiple sources, is transformed into the frequency domain in order to recover data symbols carried by the OFDM symbol. As such, signals representing the OFDM symbol from a plurality of different sources are combined at the receiver in a constructive way. Thus, a single frequency network can be formed for eMBMS, which can be referred to as MBSFN. Indeed the e-UTRAN system is being developed within LTE to provide for a single frequency network mode of operation in which a single frequency network can be shared with non MBMS services. Other systems which can be used to form a single frequency network include the Integrated Mobile Broadcast (IMB) system which uses Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) to form a single frequency network. For this example a spread spectrum signal can be received and combined from different sources using a Rake receiver.
It has been proposed within LIE to use so-called relay nodes which can be disposed in a mobile radio network in order to extend a radio coverage of that mobile radio network. A relay node is an autonomous unit which receives data transmitted by a base station and re-transmits that data to mobile communications devices, which may be within the range of the relay node, but outside the range of the base station, thereby increasing the range of the base station concerned.
As will be appreciated, it is desirable to use communications resources available to a mobile radio network as efficiently as possible when providing wireless communications to mobile communications devices.